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t'HE 

CHURCH 

ARMY 



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IV-^'S-? ^ *, ■i,'' '■^^"*^\ 



THE CHURCH ARMY 



^oltJ f0^e iSenefit of ^t. Stepfien's iPo^t 



THE 



CHURGH ARMY 



BY 



MONTAGUE CHAMBERLAIN 



t 



BOSTON 
DAMRELL AND UPHAM 

Kf)e ©III arovrnx Booltstore 

1897 



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WAiHI|IOYON 



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Copyright, 1897, 
By Montague Chamberlain, 



SIntberstts Press: 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 



TO HER 

WHO GAVE ME LIFE 
AND TAUGHT ME HOW I MIGHT MAKE 



THAT LIFE WORTH LIVING 



3 IBeUicate 



THIS LITTLE TRIBUTE TO A CAUSE LONG DEAR 

TO HER HEART, — THE UPLIFTING OF 

THE POOR AND THE ABJECT. 



PREFACE, 



Readers must not hold the authorities 
of the Church Army responsible for the 
opinions expressed in the following pages, 
as I alone should bear whatever criticism 
they may call forth. 



M. CHAMBERLAIN. 



Cambridge, Mass. 

Aprils 1897. 



THE CHURCH ARMY 

'' \ T 7HAT is the Church Army?" 
^ ^ has been asked frequently 
since the proposal was made to es- 
tablish posts of the Army in this 
country, and the question should 
have a definite answer, for this new 
movement in the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church is in danger of being 
misunderstood. 

The Church Army is an association 
of churchmen, — clergy and laity, 
women as well as men, — for coop- 
eration in mission work among the 
irreligious of the laboring classes and 
among the social outcasts, — the vaga- 
bonds, drunkards, criminals, and de- 
praved. It strives also to assist the 
deserving unemployed. 



6 The Church Army 

Other questions to which an an- 
swer should be given are : ^* What 
are its plans?" and ''What methods 
does it propose to adopt?" many of 
our people being entirely ignorant 
on these points. 

These can be best explained by 
describing what the Church Army 
has already done, and the methods 
through which this has been accom- 
plished. We must turn to England 
to learn of these, for the idea has 
been borrowed from England, where 
the Army has been in successful 
operation for fifteen years. It may 
be interesting to trace the movement 
from its inception. 

Let us confess right here at the 
start that the Church is indebted to 
the Salvation Army for the leading 
features of this new missionary enter- 
prise. General Booth has taught the 
world how to reach the outcasts and 



The Church Army y 

restore them to respectable citizen- 
ship. The Church has improved 
upon the scheme of the Salvation 
Army, but has adopted many of 
its methods, including some which 
General Booth borrowed from the 
Methodists. General Booth was for- 
merly a Methodist minister, and the 
meetings at his East End Mission in 
London were but reproductions of 
the Methodist revival meeting, the 
only change being the introduction 
of Hvely Gospel songs in place of the 
solemn hymn tunes in vogue at that 
period. The service was simple, — 
spirited music and extemporaneous 
prayer, followed by an address which 
was tuned to melt the emotions al- 
ready softened. Then came the 
** telling of experiences,'' changed by 
Booth to " giving testimony," fol- 
lowed by an invitation to those who 
desired to lead a new Hfe to advance 



8 The Church Army 

to the ** penitent bench/* where 
prayer was offered in their behalf. 
There was nothing novel in this, — 
nothing except the liveHer music, — 
but the leader of the new crusade 
went further, and introduced into 
mission work a feature that is dis- 
tinctively typical of the Salvationist 
movement. 

The people of the slums whom 
General Booth sought to reach were 
not attracted to his meetings, so, 
remembering the Master's words, 
" Go out into the highways and 
hedges and compel them to come 
in that my house may be filled," he 
formed his adherents in procession 
and marched them through the streets 
with vocal and instrumental music, 
carrying for banners placards bearing 
striking texts. They usually marched 
to a street corner or other open space 
and held a short service. The hood- 



The Church Army 9 

lums of Whitechapel Road flung gar- 
bage and vile epithets at the devoted 
band, as they marched by singing 
their war song, — a song of the 
Father's love. But the battle was 
won. Whitechapel was captured by 
the songs and banners, by the loving 
sympathy and earnest prayers of this 
strange army, and the world was 
taught the use of new weapons for 
Christian warfare. 

While General Booth was thus 
laboring in the East End slums, Mrs. 
Booth, his able coadjutor, was raising 
money to carry on the Mission by 
delivering addresses to fashionable 
audiences in the West End. She 
talked to these fine dames as plainly 
as her partner talked to the ^^ sub- 
merged tenth ; '* but her plain words 
were not resented. Her eloquence 
and zeal and purity of purpose cap- 
tivated these women, and they re- 



lo The Church Army 

turned again and again to listen to 
her arraignment of their frailties. 
Long after her collections ceased to 
be necessary for the support of the 
Mission, Mrs. Booth continued her 
evangelistic labor among professing 
Christians, speaking in churches and 
on public platforms, though she 
finally entered into active service in 
the Salvation Army. The Mission 
did not depend upon her collections 
for more than a few months. The 
fame of its success had gone abroad, 
and numbers of influential people 
became interested in its progress. 
Among these was Mr. Samuel Mor- 
ley, member of Parliament; who has 
styled himself " the sleeping partner " 
of the Salvation Army. With such 
generous friends, there was no lack 
of financial aid, and General Booth 
was enabled to extend the work to 
other parts of the city. 



The Church Army ii 

New missions were started, and dis- 
trict after district was invaded as 
rapidly as working-men evangelists 
could be prepared to take charge of 
the stations, for Mr. Booth soon dis- 
covered that his converts made the 
most zealous as well as the most 
efficient leaders. Those who dis- 
played capacity were trained for the 
work, and became the forerunners of 
the Church Army ** Captains." 

It was in July, 1865, that General 
Booth pitched his tent in White- 
chapel and began the '* East End 
Mission." That name was retained 
until 1867, when operations having 
spread beyond the East End, a new 
name — '' The Christian Mission " — 
was assumed, which remained un- 
changed for ten years. 

Early in 1877, Cadman, the Rugby 
pugilist, who had been extremely suc- 
cessful as a Mission '* Captain," put on 



12 The Church Army 

the placard giving notice of his meet- 
ings '' Hallekijah Army." At the 
end of that same year, the Secretary, 
in making out his report, wrote 
'' Volunteer Army," but, on looking 
over the report. General Booth 
scratched out the word *' Volunteer,'' 
and wrote '' Salvation," and Salvation 
Army it has remained. 

The leader of ** The Christian Mis- 
sion " was known as the General 
Superintendent, which was shortened 
to ** The General " by his associates, 
and when the Mission became an 
**army" they continued to call him 
''The General," and '' General Booth." 
He did not assume the title; it was 
forced upon him by his associates. 

For some time previous the leaders 
of the Mission stations had been 
known as '' Captains." The name 
originated thus : Several stations 
were on the river-side, among the 



The Church Army 13 

fishermen and boatmen, by whom 
every leader or master is dubbed 
*' captain ; " and as the Mission leader 
could not be addressed as ** Rev- 
erend," and was too far removed from 
the commonplace of that quarter to 
be addressed as plain ** Mister,'' he 
naturally became '* Captain." The 
name spread to other districts, and 
to-day, the world over, the com- 
manders of Salvation Army posts 
are " Captains " — be they women or 
men. 

By 1882 the Salvation Army had 
fought its way into such prominence 
and taught so clearly the lesson of 
its effectiveness, that the Church of 
England sought for an alliance. The 
subject was discussed in Convocation, 
and a committee to consider the mat- 
ter was appointed. The committee 
consisted of Dr. Benson (afterwards 
Archbishop of Canterbury), Canon 



14 The Church Army 

Wilkinson, Canon Westcott, and the 
Reverend Mr. Davidson (afterwards 
Bishop of Rochester). Several con- 
ferences were held with General and 
Mrs. Booth, and the advantages of 
the proposed alliance and the diffi- 
culties in effecting it were freely dis- 
cussed. The liberal and generous 
spirit which characterized the attitude 
of the Church dignitaries, and their 
frankness in discussing the points at 
issue, brought from the Booths a cor- 
dial response ; but both admitted that 
the difficulties in the way of a union 
were insurmountable. 

Many years before the Booths had 
broken away from church control, — 
modern Methodism was too cold and 
barren of spiritual zeal for these fiery 
evangelists, — and they were now 
striving to cement into a concrete 
mass, without church or creed, those 
of their converts who adhered to the 



The Church Army 15 

Salvation banner. The General would 
not consent to place his Captains un- 
der the control of the Vicars. 

Then they had preached that the 
Sacraments are non-essential, — they 
are preaching that same doctrine to- 
day, — and the Church could not 
harmonize this doctrine with her 
canons. 

The conferences resulted in no ad- 
vance of the project and the thought 
of a union was abandoned. But the 
encouragement which the appoint- 
ment of that committee gave to 
churchmen friendly to the alliance, 
would not down. Many of the 
younger men were familiar with the 
Salvation Army methods through fre- 
quent visits to their Mission rooms, 
and they were determined that the 
Church of England should not repeat 
the mistake which forced the fol- 
lowers of Wesley from her fold. For 



1 6 The Church Army 

years the Church had been searching 
in vain for some means through which 
to reach the irrehgious poor and the 
outcasts. " Here/' said these enthu- 
siasts, *^ is a method that has proved 
effective ; let us try this." Their 
opponents — they met with vigorous 
opposition — arrayed against them 
a barricade of ecclesiastical dignity 
and church tradition, but these were 
brushed aside. " Men and women," 
they cried, ** our countrymen, and 
our brethren, are being lost, and 
the Church is doing nothing to save 
them. This is no time to talk of 
dignity, there is work to be done. 
Who will volunteer to lead in this 
work?" 

A volunteer was ready, and he 
was supported by a few influential 
churchmen. In that same year, 1882, 
the Reverend Wilson Carlile, of St. 
Mary, Kensington, London, resigned 



The Church Army 17 

his curacy and commenced operations 
in the slums of Westminster. At the 
start he devoted his attention to gen- 
eral mission work, holding meetings 
for prayer and visiting the sick and 
forlorn, but added to this the train- 
ing of men drawn from the new- 
made converts, for the duties of 
evangelists. 

From this small and insignificant be- 
ginning has grown the large and suc- 
cessful Church Army of to-day, with an 
annual income of some four hundred 
thousand dollars, with mission sta- 
tions in every county in England and 
Wales, as well as in Belfast and Edin- 
burgh, and Vvith over fifty institutions 
in which every year thirty-three hun- 
dred outcasts find homes and employ- 
ment, and forty thousand destitute 
people are given temporary relief. 

When the ^' cadets '' were ready for . 
evangelistic labors, they were given 



1 8 The Church Army 

rank as *^ Captains," and placed in 
charge of Missions which were started 
as rapidly as the men could be pre- 
pared. Along with the training of 
the men, Mr. Carlile added the train- 
ing of women who applied for per- 
mission to join the movement, and to 
this devoted band he gave the name 
of '' mission nurses.'' These are not 
trained nurses, their first duties being 
of a spiritual and evangelistic nature. 

To supplement the work of these 
two branches of the service, and to 
reach places where a permanent Mis- 
sion cannot be maintained, as well 
as to afford means for distributing 
amongst the working-class healthy, 
religious literature, both attractive 
and spiritual, the Church Army very 
early established a system of colpor- 
tage and *' Mission Vans." These 
large covered wagons, loaded with 
books and pamphlets, and placed in 



The Church Army 19 

charge of a captain and two cadets, 
are sent to any diocese on the request 
of the bishop. They travel through 
the diocese disposing of their Htera- 
ture, and halting often for a week in 
any of the small parishes, to which 
they may be invited by the Vicar. 
In these visitations they hold daily 
services, either within or out of doors, 
visit the poor, and render any aid to 
the Vicar he may request. 

While these departments of the 
spiritual branch of the work were be- 
ing put in operation, the leaders of 
the movement, through constant in- 
tercourse with the abject and appar- 
ently hopeless people who make up 
the ''submerged tenth'' of London, 
had forced upon them the conviction 
that something more than preaching 
was needed to make the efforts to 
reform these outcasts of any perma- 
nent benefit. It was discovered that 



20 The Church Army 

a majority of the people who attended 
the mission meetings were tired of 
their idle, vicious lives, and de- 
sired to reform. The Army set about 
providing opportunities to establish 
the sincerity of this desire. Just what 
was resolved upon for a basis of oper- 
ation is thus stated in one of their 
pamphlets: *^The idle loafer must 
be taught to work for his living; 
the criminal encouraged to substitute 
honest labor for his malpractices, the 
vicious helped to overcome his beset- 
ting snare, and the fallen assisted to 
rise." 

The effort to put into practice 
the propositions thus outlined has 
been eminently successful. In 1888, 
some two years before General Booth 
published his ''Darkest England,'' in 
which he gave his famous scheme for 
assisting the unemployed, — a scheme, 
which, we may state in passing, was 



The Church Army 21 

almost identical with that which had 
been put into operation previously by 
the Church Army, — the first ''Labor 
Home '' was opened. This experi- 
ment succeeded so well, and gave 
such promise of permanent benefit to 
its inmates, that house after house 
has been opened, until there are now 
fifty-two of such '' Homes '' in suc- 
cessful operation. Those who enter 
these institutions are compelled to 
work for their board and lodging. 
*' Manual labor," says the secretary 
in his report, '' when wisely enforced, 
is found by many to be a pleasure, 
and a sure means of gaining a living. 
Drink, the curse of nine-tenths of the 
fallen, is banished, and the ' brothers ' 
are shown that they can live without 
it. The brotherly spirit in which all 
are treated makes the institution a 
real home, and encourages all to hope 
for the future; and the daily life of 



22 The Church Army 

honest labor, sobriety, and cleanli- 
ness wins them to self-respect. These, 
together with hearty and sincere reli- 
gious teaching given by the working- 
man * Father ' of the Home, proves so 
efficacious that a large percentage of 
the men who are received, obtain situ- 
ations, and go out changed from a 
social, and many from a religious point 
of view." Some three thousand three 
hundred people have passed through 
the Homes annually, and fifty-two per 
cent of these have been permanently 
restored to respectable citizenship. 

So successful has been the work of 
the Church Army in uplifting and 
starting afresh men and women who 
were considered irreclaimable, and 
had become a burden to the state, 
that many of the English Boards of 
Guardians of the Poor have made 
grants of money for its support, feel- 
ing warranted in the fact that through 



The Church Army 23 

its instrumentality paupers, who were 
a tax upon the community, were 
being changed to tax-paying citi- 
zens. 

The Church Army Labor Homes 
are open to all applicants without 
distinction of nationality or creed, or 
previous bad character. The sole con- 
ditions are: (i) that those admitted 
shall desire to help themselves; (2) 
that they shall be free from disease 
and able to work ; (3) that they shall 
not be over forty years of age (forty- 
five, if skilled mechanics) ; and (4) 
that they shall sign the rules, and 
keep them. They are provided with 
board and with beds and clean sheets, 
but are expected to use the bath 
freely; and if they will not work 
for board, washing, and lodging, they 
are discharged. During 1895, 3328 
men, women, and youths passed 
through these institutions, and three 



24 The Church Army 

new buildings were opened to ac- 
commodate the numbers who sought 
admission. 

Each Home is purposely limited 
to twenty-five persons, so that every 
inmate may be subject to individual 
personal influence. Residence at the 
Home is limited to four months, 
though the majority of the inmates 
leave before the term expires. After 
two or three months* genuine test, an 
effort is made to secure a permanent 
situation for those fitted for one, but 
should the effort be unsuccessful, the 
Army endeavors to restore the man 
to a reputable position in society by 
other agencies. A Market Garden, 
two Training Farms, and a Laundry 
for women, have been established 
with complete success. In the Mar- 
ket Garden, men only are employed ; 
while at the Farms, youths are trained 
for farm servants. In both institu- 



The Church Army 25 

tions the beneficial effect of a home- 
life is continued, and the care of 
the inmates' spiritual nature is not 
neglected. During each evening a 
lamp is kept burning in the Chapel, 
so that any brother can turn into the 
room for quiet and meditation at his 
leisure. 

At times the labor market is so 
congested that any addition to the 
applicants for employment would 
merely add to the distress of the 
whole body of unemployed, and 
turning the reclaimed outcasts on to 
the street again would be dooming 
them to a return to their old habits. 
To assist in avoiding this peril, the 
Church Army has estabhshed a sys- 
tem of emigration, through which 
men fitted for it are assisted in estab- 
lishing themselves in Canada. The 
Secretary having charge of this 
branch of the work collects informa- 



26 The Church Army 

tion and endeavors, by communicat- 
ing beforehand with the agent of the 
Army in Montreal, to make it easier 
for the emigrants to obtain employ- 
ment on arrival. 

The Army has added other agen- 
cies to help in its philanthropic efforts. 
We read in the report of a ^^ Work- 
ingmen's Boarding-house ; " a " Wo- 
men's Boarding-house ; " '^ Coffee 
Houses,'' where food is sold at a low 
price; a ** Men's Lodging-house," 
a " Shelter," in which no less than 
12,853 homeless vagabonds were fur- 
nished with a comfortable bed, in 
1895 \ several Rescue Homes for 
fallen women, in which these cases 
are classified and dealt with as the 
nature of each demands; a Dispen- 
sary where a female physician dis- 
penses advice free of charge to any 
woman who has paid the admission 
fee of three pence ; and an '' Old 



The Church Army 27 

Clothes Department," for the repair- 
ing and distribution of partly worn 
garments. 

Lately the Society has added to its 
departments a '* Samaritan Office and 
Labor Registry," to aid destitute 
clerks and others to find employ- 
ment. At this institution the ap- 
plicants are given the following 
advantages : free inspection of the 
advertisements in the daily papers; 
writing-paper on which to reply to 
advertisements; a small amount of 
writing-work, etc. ; free lessons in 
short-hand and type-writing; the use 
of a lavatory for washing and shav- 
ing; a cup of tea twice a day, and 
occasionally food, when funds per- 
mit; and the assistance of two resi- 
dent evangelists in finding situations. 
Lastly, though not least, the men 
are encouraged by daily prayers, 
which stir up fresh hope in the poor 



28 The Church Army 

fellows, and keep them from losing 
faith in God. There is a labor test 
for admission, by which any man in 
earnest can earn a meal and a 
night's lodging by wood-chopping 
or writing. 

In connection with the Army Head- 
quarters are printing and publication 
departments, where a large number 
of men and women from the Homes 
are employed. The ** Church Army 
Gazette,'* which is printed by this 
department, has a circulation of 
75,000 weekly, and though sold for a 
half-penny, yields a handsome profit, 
— some $9,000. 

Stereopticons for illustrating the 
Church services and Bible narratives 
have been used at the mission halls 
for several years with marked success. 
Recently these have been placed in 
charge of a ** Lantern Department," 
which prepares slides of the various 



The Church Army 29 

subjects illustrated. These slides are 
hired and sold, some 7,000 being now 
available for that purpose. During 
last year Church Army slides were 
used at over 12,000 meetings, some 
of which were held in drawing-rooms 
and parish houses, and for these 
meetings slides were used which 
portray the awful condition of the 
people among whom the Army is 
working. 

The equipment for the work of the 
Army at the end of 1895 was thus 
summarized in the report : A Train- 
ing Home, where 60 men and 40 
women are annually trained, without 
charge, for evangelistic work; 52 
Labor Homes ; 3 Farms and Market 
Gardens ; 28 Vans ; 227 Parochial 
Evangelists; 62 Associate Evange- 
lists ; 84 Van Evangelists and Col- 
porteurs; no Mission Nurses; 80 
Staff Workers, Clerks, etc. During 



30 The Church Army 

that year some 50,000 out-of-door 
and 100,000 indoor meetings were 
held, at which about 6,000,000 per- 
sons attended. The Captains and 
Nurses made 1,150,000 visits with 
Bible or Prayer, and 1,000,000 meals 
were served. 

Besides its evangelistic and phil- 
anthropic work, the Church Army 
has supported a Mission Church in 
the midst of one of London's poor- 
est districts. 

Of course this array of figures is 
of no value as proof of the efficiency 
of the Army,— of its effectiveness 
for permanent good to the people 
among whom it labors, — but when 
we know that the work thus rep- 
resented has the approval and sup- 
port of thoughtful churchmen who 
have had an opportunity to deter- 
mine its usefulness, these figures 
present in a most graphic manner 



The Church Army 31 

the splendid possibilities which await 
such an association in this country. 

One naturally asks, how is the 
money obtained to carry on all this 
work? The Treasurer's report for 
1895 answers the question for that 
year. The entire sum expended was 
$405,000. Of this amount, $160,000 
was received in payment for board 
at the Labor Homes, Farms, etc., 
and the profit from sales of farm pro- 
duce, firewood, and other products 
of these institutions ; for the Church 
Army, it must be remembered, at- 
tempts to help those only who are 
able and willing to help themselves. 
It never renders more than temporary 
assistance to those who cannot or will 
not work for self-maintenance. By 
this method the Army is enabled to 
make many of its institutions self- 
supporting, and a few are so success- 
ful as to leave a balance to help out 



32 The Church Army 

the deficiency of others. Another 
source of income derived from the 
people who were helped, was the 
collections made at the various meet- 
ings, which amounted to about 
$75,000, ** mostly in coppers." The 
'' Church Army Gazette " yielded a 
profit of $9,000, — sufificient to pay 
the salaries at Headquarters, — and 
profits accrued also from sales of 
religious books and from the sale 
and the hire of stereopticons and 
slides. A small revenue was derived 
from an " Invested Fund," and the 
balance was made up by subscrip- 
tions and donations. 

The vast work here sketched is 
carried on by an association which 
was incorporated in 1892 under the 
title of '' The Church Army." The 
President is the Earl of Meath, and 
among the Vice-Presidents are the 
Earl of Aberdeen, Earl of Stamford, 



The Church Army '^i^ 

Earl Fortescue, Earl of Airlie, the 
Dean of Hereford, Canon Ellison, 
Eugene Stock, Esq., G. A. Spottis- 
wood, Esq., Lord Rookwood, and 
other prominent churchmen. 

The business of the Association is 
managed by an ** Executive Com- 
mittee," elected at the " General 
Meeting." At present the Committee 
is composed of thirteen members, six 
clergymen, and seven laymen. 

The principal administrative offi- 
cer is the Chief Secretary and un- 
der him are other secretaries, the 
heads of departments, besides super- 
intendents, managers, and clerks, 
who together make up the '' Head- 
quarters Staff." The Rev. Wilson 
Carlile, the founder of the movement, 
has been Chief Secretary since the 
beginning, though he is an honorary 
officer. Other secretaries are hono- 
rary, also, though some of the staff 
3 



34 The Church Army 

are paid salaries. Several are mem- 
bers of the Executive Committee. 
A number of the staff officers, both 
honorary and paid, are ladies. 

The workingmen evangelists, after 
completing a course of training on 
the Mission Vans, followed by a 
course of study under the Chaplains 
attached to the Headquarters Train- 
ing Home, are granted '' commis- 
sions," and given the rank of '' Cap- 
tain." While in training they rank 
as '' Cadets." '' Captain " and '' Ca- 
det" are the only military titles 
borne by members of the EngHsh 
Church Army. 

Great care is taken in selecting 
men for these offices. The antece- 
dents of the candidates are looked up 
and considered. They must be 
workingmen, communicants, abstain- 
ers from alcohol and tobacco, and 
if married, the wife must be a sin- 



The Church Army i^c^ 

cere Christian, able to assist her 
husband among the women of the 
parish. 

The Mission Nurses, who are usu- 
ally zealous churchwomen with ca- 
pacity for parish work, are also 
trained at Headquarters. A Mission 
Nurse has little training for nursing. 
She is trained for three months in 
knowledge of the Bible and Prayer- 
Book, in visiting, in speaking and 
singing, in leading indoor and out- 
door meetings, meetings in lodging- 
houses, work-houses, etc. (many 
nurses are able to deal with rescue 
cases). She has had some slight ex- 
perience with work in a London 
infirmary, has attended a course of 
Nursing Lectures, and has obtained 
the certificate for First Aid to the 
Injured. In many parishes a 
Church Army Mission has been 
started by a nurse whose work has 



^6 The Church Army 

proved so effective that the evangel- 
ist, on joining her, has found a warm 
welcome and the ground prepared 
for more aggressive operations. 

While on duty, the Captains, Ca- 
dets, and Mission Nurses wear a 
simple uniform of black cloth with 
insignia. 

The Captains are employed chiefly 
in the mission field as evangelists, 
and are placed in charge of the 
Labor Homes and other institutions 
operated by the Society. 

A Captain, or Mission Nurse, is 
sent into a parish only upon the in- 
vitation of the Vicar, and under the 
Vicar's direction and control, remain- 
ing any period up to one year. At 
the request of the Vicar, this may 
be extended to two years. It is 
thought that frequent changes keep 
the men fresh and energetic, and 
prevent cliques, which would be ad- 



The Church Army 37 

verse to parochial discipline; but 
after a man has been in the service 
for five years, he may be appointed 
permanently to a parish if desired by 
the Vicar. 

The evangelist's duties vary, — 
though they consist chiefly of lead- 
ing in open-air and indoor meetings, 
taking charge of classes for Bible 
reading, managing boys' clubs, and 
in visiting the poor. He keeps a 
diary of his visits, and a regular 
weekly report of all work done, 
signed by the Vicar, is sent to Head- 
quarters. 

The Captains in charge of those 
Labor Homes which are situated in 
London, are under the direct control 
of the EvangeHst Secretary, of Head- 
quarters Staff. A visitor is appointed 
for each Home, whose duty it is to 
inspect the premises at regular inter- 
vals, assist the officer-in-charge with 



38 The Church Army 

advice, and report to Headquarters 
any irregularity or suggestion for im- 
provement. 

The Labor Homes situated in the 
provinces are under the direction of a 
local Secretary, or a Secretary and 
a Treasurer. Sometimes the two 
offices are held by the same person, 
and may be held by a layman or a 
lady. In some cases a Visitor helps 
to supervise the work. 

The Farms are operated by Man- 
agers, and the Homes attached are 
in charge of Captains. Two '* Vis- 
itors" act as inspectors and report to 
the Secretary of the Training Farms 
Department at Headquarters. 

The success of the Church Army 
has been achieved in the face of 
severe, one might say of fierce oppo- 
sition. The objections to the methods 
proposed, which met its promoters at 
the outset, and to which reference has 



The Church Army 39 

already been made, were continued 
for several years and gained many 
adherents. 

The features which generated most 
of the opposition were the music — 
which was condemned as being un- 
ecclesiastical — and the street parade, 
which was considered much too 
undignified for toleration. These 
parades are held by the Church 
Army in those districts only where 
the less attractive methods fail to 
draw the people to the indoor ser- 
vices, and the determination of their 
use hes exclusively with the Vicar of 
the parish. The Gospel songs are 
suited to the tastes and the under- 
standing of the people for whom they 
are sung and who heartily join in the 
singing. Had some of the critics but 
heard a chorus of a hundred strong 
voices singing these songs, with a 
fervor that a mission hall meeting 



40 The Church Army 

can arouse, they would surely have 
stopped their carping. 

The irregularity of the service was 
another argument used against the 
Army. *^They do not conform to 
the rubrics," said the critics, ^'and'* 
— worst of all — ^* they are Metho- 
distical ! " 

These things seem trivial when 
human misery and the saving of 
immortal souls are in the issue ; and 
yet churchmen, priests of God's holy 
temple, leaders and guides of Christ's 
followers, earnestly demanded that 
these trivialities should be respected 
and the outcasts left to their idols and 
their abject wretchedness. 

The fierce opposition discouraged 
some, but the men who were labor- 
ing in the London slums and facing 
the problems presented there were 
not of the sort who are easily dis- 
mayed. They possessed courage, 



The Church Army 41 

zeal and faith; they had earned by 
experience the right to judge these 
matters, and they labored on in 
spite of adverse criticism. To-day, 
clergy and laity are praising the 
Army and its work, and aiding in 
its maintenance. The clergy have 
proved that these ^* lay curates '' are 
a real help to them — that they in- 
crease the number of communicants, 
diminish the dependent poor, and 
awaken energy and zeal in the entire 
parish. The laymen have discov- 
ered that the evangelists and their 
Labor Homes have changed many 
who were a burden upon the parish 
into self-supporting, tax-paying citi- 
zens. Already mission work on 
Church Army lines is in operation in 
over five hundred parishes, and its 
influence is still spreading. 

The late Archbishop of Canter- 
bury is quoted as stating in one of 



42 The Church Army 

his last speeches : ** Let us understand 
that the work of the Church Army is 
Church work. I consider that evan- 
geHzation is the very heart of the 
Church, and it is necessary in all 
parts of England where the people 
have lost their touch with religion 
and the Church. . . . There is no 
doubt that there are two languages in 
England, — the language of the upper 
class is one language, and the lan- 
guage that is commonly spoken by 
the working-class is another. And it 
is not always easy to convey ideas 
from either class to the other class. 
. . . Therefore, if you want to do 
the Church's work among the work- 
ing classes, you must get working- 
men and workingwomen to go to 
them. ... I want to see the Church 
Army employed manifoldly . , . unit- 
ing workingmen and workingwomen 
to our Church. For remember this, 



The Church Army 43 

that when once they are made Church 
people, there are no other such 
Church people, — none so pious and 
so firm as poor people who have 
given themselves wholly to God and 
His Church." 

The bishops of London, Durham, 
Exeter, and Wakefield have spoken 
and written words of hearty com- 
mendation of the movement. The 
Duke of Westminster testifies to its 
value and adds : " I hope to be help- 
ful to this good cause ; '' and the Duke 
of Fife writes : ''I am glad to testify 
from what I saw myself not only that 
these homes are admirably managed, 
but that they are doing work of great 
importance among a class difficult to 
permanently benefit.'* A master of 
one of the great workhouses bears 
testimony to the improved condition 
of the men who have been inmates of 
the Church Army Homes, and similar 



44 T^he Church Army 

testimonials might be added to an 
almost unlimited extent. But su rely- 
no one who has read thus far will 
need further proof that the Church 
Army of England is doing a good 
work in a good way, and is entitled 
to — nay, demands, by its object, and 
its results, the encouragement and 
support of every loyal churchman — 
of every Christian who desires to help 
the unfortunate and the degraded. 



What the Church Army is doing 
for the laboring class of England it 
hopes to do for those of this New 
World. Its mission will be to re- 
claim the irreligious workingmen of 
all grades and conditions, to rescue 
the social outcasts, — fallen men and 
women, — and to extend to the de- 
serving unemployed such aid as its 
opportunities and means may permit. 
It proposes to do this very largely 



The Church Army 45 

with the assistance of workingmen 
especially trained for the work. This 
is not a light task, but as much 
good has already been accomplished 
by several Church Missions, conducted 
on much the same plan, surely the more 
extended and more comprehensive 
scheme is worth an effort. Such an 
effort, to be in any measure suc- 
cessful, will demand from the workers 
zeal, patience, courage, hope, and an 
abiding faith in God's fatherly love 
and tender compassion ; but beyond 
all else, it will demand an almost 
total sacrifice of self from those who 
engage actively in its pursuit. It will 
demand also the generous and hearty 
cooperation of all churchmen, the 
laity as well as the clergy. 

Some financial aid will be neces- 
sary at the start, to organize Mis- 
sions, to establish Homes, to procure 
vans and tents, and to purchase Farms 



46 The Church Army 

on which to place those of the re- 
formed and destitute for whom per- 
manent employment elsewhere cannot 
be secured. In cities where there are 
already established Church institu- 
tions to meet the wants of these 
various classes, there will probably 
be no immediate need of making 
additions, for if the Americans follow 
the example set by their English 
brethren, they will cooperate with 
existing social agencies and utilize 
parochial machinery. 

Thus far comparatively little has 
been accomplished, for the organiza- 
tion is not yet thoroughly completed ; 
yet the movement to establish the 
Church Army here has met with such 
a hearty reception that a successful 
start is already assured. 

As a matter of history, it should 
be recorded that in September, 1895, 
a Church Army post was established 



The Church Army 47 

at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by the 
Brotherhood of St. Andrew, and 
placed under the management of 
Mr. James K. Bakewell, who had 
been Superintendent of their Rescue 
Mission. About the same time, 
Colonel (now General) Henry H. 
Hadley, Superintendent of St. Bar- 
tholomew's Rescue Mission, New 
York, who had studied the plans of 
the EngHsh organization, formulated 
plans for a similar scheme suitable 
to the conditions prevaiHng in this 
country. These plans were laid be- 
fore Bishop Potter who referred the 
subject to a special committee of 
the Parochial Missions Society. In 
a letter to this committee the Bishop 
wrote, " It seems to me that the time 
is ripe for the starting of a Church 
Army.'' After considering the mat- 
ter, the committee reported that it 
was ''unwise to launch a complete 



48 The Church Army 

scheme before a fuller consideration 
by the Church of all the possible 
methods and details.*' The commit- 
tee, however, expressed its *' cordial 
sympathy with such test of the value 
of Church Army methods as may 
be undertaken under the Rector of 
St. Bartholomew's Church or other 
parishes, along the line proposed," 
and the matter was referred to an- 
other committee, to study the de- 
tails and report to the next Diocesan 
Convention. 

Pending this report, a '^Church 
Army Commission" was appointed 
by the Parochial Missions Society to 
take charge of the initial movement. 
This Commission, composed of six 
clergymen living in the neighborhood 
of New York, appointed General Had- 
ley Military Director, and authorized 
him to establish '' Posts," as the mis- 
sion stations are called, in any. par- 



The Church Army 49 

ishes in which the Rectors gave their 
consent. 

General Hadley received his com- 
mission in May, 1896, and began work 
at once. He entered upon his task 
with a boldness born of zeal for the 
cause. In his youth he had studied 
law, but on the breaking out of the 
war joined an Ohio regiment, and in 
service won his promotion to the 
rank of Colonel. The war ended ; he 
renewed his practice of law, and also 
became editor of a newspaper. Con- 
verted through the influence of the 
famous *' Jerry McAuley's Mission,'' 
in New York, he was filled with 
gratitude for his own deHvery, and 
considering the mission service a 
valuable agency for reclaiming out- 
casts, he entered into the work as an 
active evangelist. For some years 
he was Superintendent of the Mission 
estabHshed by the Rev. Dr. Greer, in 
4 



50 The Church Army 

connection with St. Bartholomew's 
parish, New York. 

General Hadley appointed Miss 
Sara Wray as his Aide-de-camp, 
with the rank of Major, to assist 
him in developing the movement. 
Miss Wray is the daughter of an 
English clergyman, and served for 
several years with the Salvation Army 
and at St. Bartholomew's Mission. 

The present organization being 
tentative merely, few rules have 
been adopted. One that will be the 
basis for future operations reads: 
** No Post shall be established or 
continued in any parish without the 
written consent of the Rector thereof" 

If a Rector desires the services of 
the Army, he should write to Head- 
quarters, and after arrangements have 
been completed, a " Captain '* and 
" First Lieutenant " will be sent to 
his parish. These two officers are 



The Church Army 51 

to be under pay, the salaries varying 
from five to fifteen dollars a week, 
according to ability. The officers 
may remain for any length of time at 
the option of the Rector, providing 
it is not less than one week, or longer 
than one year. It is considered ad- 
visable to change officers thus often, 
but should there be any valid reason 
for retaining an officer longer, such 
an arrangement may be effected by 
the Rector, on application to Head- 
quarters. If a bishop desires an offi- 
cer to remain. Headquarters has no 
authority to withdraw him. Before 
the Post is established, there shall be 
a written agreement between the 
Rector and the Military Director as 
to details, the methods to be em- 
ployed being entirely at the discretion 
of the Rector. 

It is expected that these Posts will 
be largely self-supported, by coUec- 



52 The Church Army 

tions taken at the meetings and by 
donations from the people of the 
parish; but, as has been stated else- 
where, aid must be given in estab- 
lishing the posts, and in very many 
parishes, provision must be made for 
a portion of the officers' salaries. 

Those converts who desire to en- 
gage in the active evangelical work of 
the Army must refrain from using 
alcohol and tobacco, and will be ex- 
pected to serve as '' recruits '' at the 
mission at which they are converted, 
for at least six months. At the end 
of that period, if they have been faith- 
ful and have given evidence of ear- 
nestness and of capacity for the work, 
they will be sworn in as *' soldiers," 
and placed in a confirmation class for 
instruction by the Rector. After 
they have been confirmed and en- 
rolled as " cadets," they may enter 
the Training School at Headquarters, 



The Church Army c^i^ 

where they will be required to spend 
an additional six months in the study 
of the Bible, and in the practice of 
conducting indoor and outdoor meet- 
ings and other work. On the com- 
pletion of this year of training, they 
may be eligible for commissions. 

If a candidate for commission is 
married, his wife must be a communi- 
cant, and be able to assist her hus- 
band in evangelistic work, especially 
among the women of the parish. 

The women engaged in evangehstic 
work in the English Church Army 
are styled Mission Nurses, but in the 
American branch they are to be 
granted commissions and given simi- 
lar rank as the men. These women 
will be carefully instructed at Head- 
quarters in the Bible, in vocal and 
instrumental music, and in practical 
rescue mission work. 

The evangelists will be under the 



54 The Church Army 

control of the Military Director, who 
has command and supervision of all 
matters pertaining to the Military de- 
partment of the Army's operations. 

The process of establishment must 
of necessity proceed slowly as evan- 
gelists must be trained for the work, 
though General Hadley reports that 
already a number are at the Head- 
quarters Training School, and he is 
continually^ receiving appHcations for 
admission. Several Posts have been 
established, some of these having been 
in operation previously as Church 
Rescue Missions. A description of 
the work at one of these may serve 
to illustrate what the Army proposes 
to undertake and the methods that 
will be employed. 

The St. Stephen Post, attached to 
St. Stephen's Church, Boston, was 
originally established for evangelistic 
work merely. In 1893, a room was 



The Church Army 55 

secured on Washington Street within 
a few steps of the Church, and was 
put in charge of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel 
F. Jones, who had had some experi- 
ence in mission work in New York. 
They began at once to hold evening 
meetings, on each week-day, and on 
Sunday. The room was heated and 
made as comfortable and attractive as 
the means at command would permit, 
and a piano was provided. Here 
assembled tramps, vagabonds, crimi- 
nals, and all sorts of the irreligious 
community of the neighborhood, who 
were made so welcome that they re- 
turned frequently. They still continue 
to attend, filling the hall usually, and 
appearing in such numbers on Sun- 
day and Thursday nights that there 
is not sufficient room for all who seek 
admission. Some are allured by sheer 
curiosity; to others the sprightly 
music of the mission songs is entic- 



56 The Church Army 

ing ; while to another set the chance 
to spend an hour in a warm, bright 
room and Mrs. Jones's sweet smile of 
welcome are the only attractions of 
the place. Few are drawn thither by 
any religious motive or desire for 
instruction. 

Those who lead the meetings do not 
attempt to preach to the congregation 
— preaching is not a part of rescue 
mission methods, — and what there is 
of service, is very simple but as bright 
and attractive as it can be made. It 
consists chiefly of music, and a Scrip- 
ture lesson followed by a short ad- 
dress, which has for its basic themes 
the love of God for His human family, 
His willingness to forgive the repent- 
ant, and the happiness of the Chris- 
tian Hfe. The Apostles' Creed is 
repeated, a few selected prayers read, 
and if a priest is present, he gives the 
benediction. 



The Church Army 57 

With this service is introduced a 
feature quite novel to meetings held 
under the auspices of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, but something that 
has proved an important factor in all 
mission work in the slums. Those 
who have been converted previously 
are invited by the leader of the meet- 
ing to rise and give their ** testimo- 
nies '* — to relate the facts of their 
former sinful lives and of their reform- 
ation. These men usually respond. 
Some are filled with a noble elation 
born of success in a hard-fought battle, 
and desiring that those still in the 
peril of the fight may be encouraged 
through their example, they boldly 
tell their pathetic story. Others arise 
with reluctance, and with downcast 
faces and quivering lips tell of their 
once depraved condition and their 
determination, with God's gracious 
help, to sin no more. 



58 The Church Army 

'* Why are these men induced to 
repeat again and again such harrow- 
ing tales?'' a stranger to mission 
work usually asks. The answer is, 
that they are prone to overestimate 
their strength, and to grow proud 
and careless from forgetfulness of 
their own recent depravity. The 
recital of their story keeps them 
humble and penitent. Another use 
of these testimonies is their help- 
fulness to those present who are 
still in the thraldom of depraving 
habits. To a besotted vagabond, 
whose drunkenness and degradation 
have separated him from home and 
friends and hope, nothing appeals 
with such effectiveness as the simple, 
broken utterance of a brother tramp, 
proclaiming his own restoration to 
sobriety and self-respect, confessing 
that to his heart has come the assur- 
ance of God's love and God's mercy, 



The Church Army 



59 



and calling upon the doubting ones 
to follow his example with faith and 
courage. 

The testimonies concluded, the 
leader pleads with those who are in 
the thraldom of sin to break from 
their evil ways and make a fresh 
start in life, and to make that start 
at once. Those w^ho desire to re- 
form are invited to the front row of 
seats. All present are then asked 
to join in prayer to the Almighty 
Father that He will have pity on 
these penitent ones, forgive them 
their sins, and keep strong and stead- 
fast their resolve to sin no more. 

It tries a man's courage and earn- 
estness of purpose to rise in his seat 
and thus proclaim that he has been 
a drunkard or a thief and desires to 
reform, yet night after night just such 
men rise and go to that front row 
to kneel for prayer. Some who 



6o The Church Army 

kneel there have not prayed for years, 
while others have never prayed be- 
fore. They form a motley group, for 
though most of them wear ragged 
clothes, with hair unkempt, faces 
unwashed and often bruised, gener- 
ally pinched with hunger or bloated 
with drink, they represent various 
types of the outcast throng. Some 
have been cradled in vice, or have 
fallen through inherited depravity, 
while others have been led into dis- 
sipation or crime through weakness, 
or have been driven to it by despair. 
AH outcasts are not children of sin, 
nor of poverty, and many a man 
kneels in that room who has strayed 
from a happy Christian home, and at 
a mother's knee once lisped his baby 
prayers. Standing there together, 
companions in poverty, wretchedness, 
and penitential tears, they make a 
picture of human pathos that stirs 



The Church Army 6i 

the heart, while the Hps utter the 
prayer, ''From all temptations, good 
Lord, deliver us." 

These penitents are encouraged and 
exhorted to stand steadfast, and to re- 
turn to the Mission Hall on the follow- 
ing day, though if they are homeless 
and appear sincere, they are usually 
provided with lodging and breakfast. 
Sometimes the superintendent sus- 
pects that hope for aid more than 
contrition has led to the apparent 
desire for reform, and such cases 
are tested before aid is given to 
them. If they persist in the at- 
tempt at reformation, they are taught 
some passages of Scripture to en- 
courage and sustain them, and are 
given prayers and hymns to learn for 
repetition when alone and tempted. 
Those who have ever attended any 
church are urged to attend the ser- 
vices of that church, and those who 



62 The Church Army 

desire to enter the Episcopal Church 
are invited to attend the services at 
St. Stephen's, and to join the con- 
firmation class. They are strongly- 
urged to give up entirely the use of 
tobacco as well as alcohol. 

At all American Rescue Missions, 
the converts are advised to give up 
the use of tobacco, for it has been 
demonstrated that men who use to- 
bacco are much more likely to yield 
to the desire for drink than are those 
who refrain from its use. The noted 
Jerry McAuley fell from sobriety four 
times while he continued smoking, 
but he finally gave up the habit, and 
was permanently reformed. He al- 
ways maintained that he would never 
have been able to keep his temper- 
ance pledge had he indulged his de- 
sire for tobacco. 

Soon after St. Stephen's Mission 
was opened, the leaders had under 



L 



The Church Army 63 

their tutelage a number of converts 
in various stages of transformation, 
and plans were discussed for provid- 
ing these with employment, by which 
they could earn their maintenance, 
and win back their self-respect, as 
well as be kept from the tempta- 
tions sure to meet them if idle or in 
want. To give them money without 
compensating labor would only com- 
plete their training as paupers ; to 
send them out searching for work 
would hazard their reformation. If 
they were unsuccessful, they might 
become more reckless than before. 
Satisfactory positions were obtained 
for many, but such opportunities 
could not be secured for all. At one 
of the Sunday evening meetings in 
1896, the Superintendent spoke of 
this dilemma, and stated that he 
hoped to secure some money with 
which to start a woodyard where the 



64 The Church Army 

deserving men could be furnished 
with remunerative employment. Af- 
ter the meeting, two housemaids pres- 
ent offered him their hard-earned 
savings, amounting to forty dollars. 
The generous gift was accepted, and 
to that a merchant added fifty dollars, 
with which capital the woodyard 
was opened. This yard now gives 
steady employment to about fifty 
men per day, and not only pays these 
men fair wages, — the same wages as 
is paid for similar work elsewhere,— 
but yields a profit which helps sup- 
port other departments of the Mis- 
sion. It was decided at the start that 
the laborers should be paid in cash, 
and though this seemed a dangerous 
experiment, considering their recent 
habits and moral weakness, there has 
been no good reason for regretting 
the decision. The cash payment is evi- 
dence of trust, and that trust and the 



The Church Army 65 

independence which the cash secures, 
helps the men to retrieve their self- 
respect,- while it gives those with fam- 
ilies an opportunity to assist them. 

After starting the men on the road 
to reformation and giving them em- 
ployment, the Superintendent re- 
solved to provide them with cheap 
food, and for this purpose a restau- 
rant was started in the basement of the 
building in which the evening meet- 
ings are held. On the opposite side 
of the street was a free lunch tavern, 
where for five cents a man could pro- 
cure a glass of beer and a breakfast. 
The Superintendent determined to 
compete with that establishment for 
the trade of the street, and to out- 
bid the rum-seller for the patronage 
of the Mission's workmen. He issued 
a bill of fare in which he offered a 
breakfast or lunch for five cents, and 
a dinner for ten or eleven, or fifteen 
5 



66 The Church Army 

cents, as a man's appetite or taste 
might demand, substituting tea or 
coffee for beer, and providing a large 
variety of viands, to suit the varied 
tastes, — no less than thirty-four 
dishes being on the present bill of 
fare. 

To those who have never exam- 
ined the menu of a cheap eating- 
house, some quotations from this bill 
may be interesting : — 

Sliced ham sandwich, with tea or coffee, 5/ 

Soups, with bread, and tea or coffee, 5^ 

Beef stew, with bread, 5/ 

Baked beans, with bread, 5<^ 

Liver and onions, with bread, 5/ 

Fried liver and bacon, with bread and 

potatoes, and tea or coffee, 10/ 

Fried codfish, with ditto, 10/ 

Fried sausages (4), with ditto, \of 

Boiled eggs (3), with ditto, i^f 

To his workmen the Superintend- 
ent sells meal tickets at a discount on 
these prices of twenty per cent, 



The Church Army 67 

making it possible to obtain a light 
meal for four cents and a hearty 
meal for eight cents ; and so good is 
the food that the men find no cause 
for grumbling, and the quantity is 
sufficient to satisfy the average ap- 
petite.* For two dollars per week a 
man can procure a sufficiency of 
good food, served in a clean, attrac- 
tive room, and if his purse allows, 
can for a few additional cents add 
such luxuries as doughnuts and pie 
to his daily fare. 

The Mission restaurant soon be- 
came popular, and it attracted so 
many customers from the free 
lunch tavern over the way that the 
proprietor of that establishment was 
forced to close his shop and move 
to another neighborhood. 

The next step of the Superinten- 
dent was to secure lodgings for the 
homeless men, and there were many 



68 The Church Army 

of that class among the converts. 
A house on Florence Street was 
rented, and in this were placed iron 
bedsteads, as many as could be used 
with convenience and comfort. 
Sheets, blankets, and pillows were 
provided ; and into this clean and 
comfortable home men went to sleep 
who had not slept between clean 
sheets for years. A charge of ten 
cents per night was made for lodg- 
ing. The beds were eagerly sought 
at that price, and so large was the 
demand, so much in excess of the 
Home's capacity, that three floors of 
the house above the Mission Hall 
were secured and filled with cots. 
Even with this number at his disposal 
the Superintendent cannot satisfy the 
present demand. 

The work of the Mission during 
the current year may be thus sum- 
marized : — 



The Church Army 6g 

Sixty-five to one hundred and 
twenty-five men attend the evening 
meetings ; on Sunday and Thursday 
more seek admission than can be 
accommodated. One hundred and 
twenty-five to one hundred and thirty 
men are lodged in the Homes every 
night; often more men apply than 
can be cared for. Fifty to seventy- 
five men are given employment daily 
in the woodyard. Nine hundred to 
twelve hundred meals are served daily 
in the restaurant. 

Since the Mission has been started, 
forty to fifty of its converts have 
been confirmed, and many others 
have been induced to attach them- 
selves to other churches. Three con- 
verts have determined to enter the 
Church Army as evangelists, and 
have gone to Headquarters Training 
School. Numbers of the converts 
have been restored to respectable 



70 The Church Army 

citizenship and placed in good situa- 
tions, thus becoming self-supporting, 
whereas previously they had been a 
burden and a continual menace to 
the community. 

** How is the money raised to meet 
these expenses?'' will again be asked. 
Astonishing as such a reply would 
appear, it could be stated without 
much exaggeration, that this Mission 
pays its own expenses. The salary 
of the Superintendent is provided by 
St. Stephen's Church (or by the 
Episcopal City Mission Society), and 
that is all the financial assistance that 
has been required thus far. The 
profits from the restaurant and the 
woodyard, the rent of beds in the 
Homes, the collections made at 
the meetings, with some few special 
donations, have been sufficient to fit 
up the various departments, including 
the furnishing of the Homes (a small 



The Church Army 71 

amount only being unpaid), and to 
pay all running expenses. 

In this condition St. Stephen's 
Rescue Mission has been attached 
to the Church Army, and become 
St. Stephen's Post. Mr. Jones, the Su- 
perintendent, still remains in charge, 
but has been given the rank of Colo- 
nel, and made General Hadley's 
'' Chief-of-Staff." 

That this effort for the exten- 
sion of Church Missions should have 
met with some distrust and have 
evoked some criticism is not sur- 
prising, nor should it discourage 
those who are inclined to give the 
movement their support. Many of 
the methods proposed are new to 
our Church, as they were to the 
Church of England, and are some- 
what startling at the first encounter, 
while others come to our minds handi- 
capped by a prejudice born of their 



72 The Church Army 

extravagant and almost flippant use 
by other organizations. 

Another cause which may account 
for a part of the criticism Hes in 
the distrust, if not antipathy, which 
a portion of the clergy feel toward 
lay workers in general. It will surely 
be conceded that no loyal layman de- 
sires to interfere with the work of the 
clergy, — all that the most zealous 
ask for is the opportunity to help the 
Rector, to supplement his labors when 
opportunity comes. And surely, lay- 
men have been of some help to the 
Church — even in fields that might 
be considered properly within the 
province of the clergy. We need go 
no further than the Sunday-school 
to find evidence of this; and the 
Church Army proposes to take no 
very different position, relatively to 
the clergy, than that which might be 
occupied by an association of Sun- 



The Church Army 73 

day-school teachers, organized for 
cooperation. 

Others of the clergy consider that 
the Army should justify itself before 
asking the church to give it official 
endorsement, and to that proposition 
no friend of the movement will be 
inclined to object. 

A few of our thoughtful men have 
withheld their approval of the scheme 
from a lack of confidence in the per- 
manent effectiveness of the methods 
proposed, which appear to them cap- 
.able of creating superficial emotional 
excitement only with little permanent 
result. That may be the case, — will 
be, doubtless, where the efforts to re- 
form outcasts are not supplemented by 
wholesome environment, and, above 
all else, by remunerative employment. 
To create a desire for reform in the 
mind of a tramp who for years has 
lived a reckless vagabond life, home- 



74 The Church Army 

less and hopeless, and then send him 
back to the street, with the chances 
all against him for securing work, and 
all in favor of his being forced to beg, 
steal, or starve, and expect him under 
such circumstances to keep firm his 
good resolve, is to ignore the lessons 
of experience, and to disclose a la- 
mentable lack of common sense. 
Cromwell's advice to his soldiers, 
** Trust in Providence, but keep your 
powder dry,'* is surely applicable 
to such over-confident believers in 
the strength of sudden conversion. 
We must do our part, and when our 
brother who has been weak and sin- 
ful, but is now contrite in heart, makes 
his first effort at walking the unfamiliar 
path of virtue, we must see to it that 
he is preserved from temptation until 
time and the return of self-respect 
and self-control shall have given him 
power to curb his desires and to re- 



The Church Army 75 

sist the influence that seeks to over- 
throw him. 

It has been said that many zealous 
churchmen who have at heart the 
extension of mission work among the 
poor, fear that the Church Army may 
introduce into its methods the sensa- 
tional auxiliaries which its name sug- 
gests, — the big drum and shouting 
procession, the flaunting parapher- 
nalia, the startling phrases, vulgar 
ejaculations, and other objectionable 
demonstrations with which we have 
been made too familiar. These sen- 
sational features have lost much of 
their attractiveness through losing 
their novelty and becoming com- 
monplace. But even if they could 
be made attractive, they are wholly 
unnecessary — the Mission Halls can 
be filled without them. There is 
nothing sensational in the meetings 
at St. Bartholomew's Mission in New 



76 The Church Army 

York, or at St. Stephen's Mission in 
Boston, and both have been emi- 
nently successful in drawing the 
classes most difficult to attract. An- 
other example is that of the Prison 
Work conducted by Mrs. Ballington 
Booth; for whatever the Volunteers 
may thrust upon their audiences else- 
where, there is not so much as a hint 
of sensationalism in this work; and 
of all the many missionary enter- 
prises in this country, there is per- 
haps none that is attaining its purpose 
more effectually. Mrs. Booth's weap- 
ons are loving sympathy, tenderness, 
kind words of encouragement, zeal- 
ous devotion, and earnest prayers, 
and with these she has won over 
to Christ's standard many a rebel- 
lious spirit. 

Considering all this, will it not be 
well for the supporters of the present 
movement, when they formulate a per- 



The Church Army 77 

manent scheme of organization, to 
frame a rule prohibiting a resort 
to sensationaHsm in Church Army 
tactics. 

A friend suggests that a further 
reHef from adverse criticism might 
be secured by adopting another name 
and a simpler organization than that 
proposed. As it would be wise to 
avoid if possible alienating the sym- 
pathies of those who might other- 
wise prove stanch friends, is not 
this suggestion also worth consider- 
ing? For, after all, '^ Church Army '' 
is not the only appropriate name that 
could be selected. That might be 
reserved for the exclusive use of the 
English Church, and ** Church Mis- 
sion League," for example, might be 
selected for our organization. Surely, 
such a name would be as appropri- 
ate, and it would, likewise, describe 
more accurately the work proposed. 



7 8 The Church Army 

Neither is it absolutely necessary that 
the elaborate military organization 
that has been outlined should be re- 
tained. If any appreciable portion 
of our people think that the military 
spirit and an autocratic military rule 
is inconsistent with the spirit of 
Chrisf s teachings and out of place 
in work done in His name, and if 
they object to the proposed formi- 
dable array of loud sounding mili- 
tary titles which the Church has no 
legal right to bestow, and fear lest 
these may bring ridicule upon the 
movement and upon the Church, it 
will be wiser to abandon them. They 
are not essential to success. The 
first and greatest of all mission work- 
ers succeeded with an extremely sim- 
ple organization, and the Church 
Army of England gets along admir- 
ably without this tawdry nomen- 
clature. 



The Church Army 79 

As to organization, might it not 
be best for each diocese to form a 
separate Church Army Guild, to carry- 
on the work during the formulative 
or experimental period, making its 
scheme of organization so elastic that 
growth and extension could be readily 
cared for, and cooperation with other 
dioceses arrranged without disturbing 
existing management. 

Whatever system may be finally 
adopted, it is clear that the time has 
come when the Church is to under- 
take the extension of her influence 
among the working classes. The 
Church has been sleeping over this 
matter, and is only now arousing to 
the terrible fact that, through her 
neglect, children of her own house- 
hold have been Hving godless lives 
within sound of her bells. 

To those who object to the present 
plan for this work, we can offer as an 



8o The Church Army 

unanswerable argument the splendid 
record of what has been accomplished 
with similar methods, amid conditions 
differing but slightly from our own. 
What has been done in England can 
be done unquestionably in the United 
States. 

We must not enter upon this work 
with the supposition that we can 
reclaim all of the irreligious poor. 
The clergy fail to make devoted Chris- 
tians of all the irreligious rich, and 
he knows but little of the mental and 
moral condition of these people who 
expects that the Church Army or any 
other human agency can awaken con- 
trition in the hearts of the entire out- 
cast throng, or who dreams that 
poverty and crime and their attend- 
ant miseries can be entirely banished. 
We cannot restore to manly vigor all 
the human wrecks; some are too 
weak, others too wicked, and many 



The Church Army 8i 

too indififerent. But because, from the 
nature of the task, we must fail to 
accompHsh all, shall we attempt noth- 
ing? If we can reach but a compara- 
tively small number of the churchless 
people, and can restore to respecta- 
bility a portion only of those who 
have fallen, the result will surely 
justify the effort. 

Do you ask what you can do to 
help the Church Army? Just now 
you can do most good by explaining 
what its purposes are, and what they 
are not, and by interesting your Rec- 
tor in the speedy establishment of 
a Post in the back street yonder, 
where vice and poverty and misery 
combine to create a festering sore in 
the body social. 

If you live in Boston, and desire 

to assist in the development of St. 

Stephen's Post, there is much you 

may do. Money is required to ex- 
6 



82 The Church Army 

tend and complete the present accom- 
modations. Several new " Homes '' 
could be utilized, for the houses now 
occupied are much too crowded to 
secure the best results. One of 
these should be used as a " Nursery/' 
for many of the converts are children 
in weakness and in the immaturity of 
their neglected minds. Also a house 
where small private rooms for the 
better class could be provided, would 
aid in the permanent restoration of 
these cases. A pleasant reading- 
room for the use of the men during 
their leisure hours is wanted. One 
room is now reserved for this pur- 
pose, but it is inadequate. A valu- 
able addition to the plant would be a 
** roaster " in which the clothes of the 
more neglected cases could be subject 
to high temperature during the night. 
Enlarged bathing accommodation is 
much needed also. 



The Church Army 83 

No provision has yet been made 
for the rescue of fallen women. A 
Home for these, with a Matron, ought 
to be provided. 

But, apart from the money needed 
for a new plant and new work, the 
Mission could use to advantage a 
small sum in carrying on more effect- 
ively its present work and in pay- 
ing a few debts incurred in furnish- 
ing the Homes. If you cannot do 
much toward raising this sum, you 
can help materially by inducing your 
friends to send their orders for fuel 
— firewood, kindling, or coal — to St. 
Stephen's woodyard. Orders for 
wood enable the employment of addi- 
tional men and yield a profit. 

Another method of helping is by 
sending beggars to the Mission, in- 
stead of aiding them from your purse 
or your kitchen. You should give 
them your card, with directions to 



84 The Church Army 

reach the Mission, and you will, if 
truly generous, follow this by a dona- 
tion to the Mission to meet the 
expense. The Mission will assist 
the beggar more than you can, and 
others will have a share in your 

gift. 

You can help also by attending the 
meetings. Your occasional presence 
there, even if you take no part in the 
service, will encourage those who 
are in the work. The converts, too, 
will gain courage from your kind 
interest, and your friendly words may 
arouse in the heart of some friendless 
outcast a hope that has seemed long 
dead or a desire for respect that has 
been dormant. Few of us have yet 
learned the possibilities for helpful- 
ness of human sympathy. 

Efficient men or women to assist 
in the meetings, going once or twice 
a week or even once a month, would 



The Church Army 85 

lighten the burden of the leaders and 
be an encouragement to all. These 
volunteer workers may wear the uni- 
form or not just as they may elect. 
Visitors, especially ladies, must be 
cautioned, however, against showing 
more interest in one convert than is 
accorded to the whole. An interest- 
ing case — a fellow with a handsome 
face and a thrilling story — is very 
apt to gain favors denied to the more 
repulsive cases, and if this preference 
is conspicuous, jealousy is sure to 
breed trouble and discontent, if not 
disaster; for remember these fellows 
are as mere children about such 
matters. 

Finally, you can help the workers 
by your prayers. They are human, 
like yourself, their burdens are heavy 
to bear, and their discouragements 
frequent and severe. 



86 The Church Army 



Since the above was placed in 
the hands of the printer the friends 
of the movement in Boston have 
decided to form a Church Army 
Guild to assume the entire man- 
agement of the work in the diocese 
of Massachusetts. 



The Church Army 87 



ADDRESSES. 

The Headquarters of the United States 
Church Army is 423 Lexington Ave., 
New York. 

The Secretary of the Church Army 
Commission is the Rev. J. Newton Per- 
kins, 281 Fourth Ave., New York. 

Colonel Samuel F. Jones, Commandant 
of St. Stephen's Post, may be found at 
the woodyard, 1272 Washington Street, 
Boston, during the morning, and in the 
evening at the "Home,'* 1066 Washing- 
ton Street. 

The Rev. Henry. M. Torbert, in charge 
of St. Stephen's Mission, resides at St. 
Stephen's House, 7 Florence Street. 



88 The Church Army 



REFERENCES. 

In gathering the material for the pre- 
ceding pages, the following publications 
have been consulted : — 

" The Annual Report," for 1895 ; " The 
Church and the Outcast ; " '' The Church 
Army: What it is Doing," and other 
pamphlets published by the Church Army 
of England. 

^^The Rules, Regulations," etc., of the 
United States Church Army. 

" In Darkest England, and the Way 
Out," by General Booth. 

" The Life of Catherine Booth," by 
F. de L. Booth-Tucker. 

'' The ' Darkest England ' Social Scheme 
— a brief review of the first year's work ; " 
'' The Hand of Love ; " " All About the 
Salvation Army;" "The Doctrines and 



The Church Army 89 

Discipline of the Salvation Army ; " " Our 
Future Pauper Policy in America; " and 
other pamphlets pubhshed by the Salva- 
tion Army. 



OTHER REFEREN(?:E BOOKS. 

*' The Unemployed/' by Geoffrey Drage. 

" Pauperism : its cause and remedies/' 
by Henry Fawcett. 

"Prisoners of Poverty/' by Helen 
Campbell. 

" AppUed Christianity/' by Washington 
Gladden. 

" The Dangerous Classes of New York/' 
by Charles Loring Brace. 

"Beneath Two Flags/' by Maud B. 
Booth. 

"Heathen England and the Salvation 
Army/' by Commissioner Railton. 



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